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「ぼーいｘれでぃ」 (Booi x Redi)
“Boy versus Lady”
What do you get when you put the director, character designer, studio, broadcast station, and leading seiyuu behind Kanokon together again? Ladies versus Butlers (…apparently). Here, we get an early special premiere before the series’ official start in January and it looks like Xebec and AT-X will focus a fair bit on the service side again, albeit not nearly as much as before.
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「空の女王（オトシモノ）」 (Sora no Joou (Otoshimono))
“The Queen (Thing that Fell) from the Sky”
I hate to say I called it, but there was really no other way I would’ve wanted things to conclude here. With the arrival of the Gamma Angeloid harpies and their Prometheus weaponry, Nymph’s master decides to toy with her until the bitter end. Tricked into believing he’s worried about her, Nymph cooperates with them but asks that they let her try to convince Ikaros into returning to the Synapse.
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「君たちキウイ・パパイア・マンゴーだね。」 (Kimitachi Kiui Papai Mangoo Da ne.)
“You Guys are Kiwis, Papayas, and Mangos.”
It’s the return of Hajime’s spicy food pranks. This time it’s a “Cutie Kiwi-chan” topping out at two million scovilles, which would make it two times hotter than the hottest pepper in the world, the ghost chilli. This isn’t quite the way I imagined them to conclude the second season even though it’s similar to the first’s, but the salt guy did get his salt!
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「約束の大地」 (Yakusoku no Daichi)
“The Promised Land”
After the Christmas episode last time, it’s nice to see Niche clinging onto Lag’s arm again. Here, she accompanies him on a routine letter delivery which eventually mends the relationship between the sender and the recipient. Things were somewhat episodic, but at least Niche demonstrated some expert melee circle strafing for us.
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「雨を見たかい」 (Ame wo Mita kai)
“Have You Seen the Rain?”
A day at school during the summer break turns into a full-out scavenger hunt after a sudden downpour. While the rain manages to cool down the unbearable heat wave, the Girls Club finds themselves taking an unexpected dip in the school fountain before it’s all said and done.
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「闇夜の暁 a sötét hajnal」 (Anya no Akatsuki)
“Dawn of the Dark Night”
There was no deux ex machina to give us a good ending, but the whole parallel worlds bit had its fair share of conveniences. The previous episode turned out to be a complete fake-out, with the majority of it being the bad outcome Kakeru foresaw with his Eye of Aeon.
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「約束です♪」 (Yakusoku Desu ♪)
“It’s a Promise ♪”
Two seasons and 24 episodes later, we find ourselves at the end of the second run of Nogizaka Haruka. Things are left pretty open-ended for a possible third season, but whether or not we’ll get one is anyone’s guess. Here, the story concludes with a Nogizaka-funded trip to the hot springs, where Yuuto finds himself stranded out in a snowstorm with Haruka.
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「逃るること叶わぬ螺旋回廊(クサリ)」 (Nogaruru Koto Kanawanu Rasen Kairou (Kusari))
“The Spiraling Cloister (Chain) of No Escape”
It’s almost as if AIC ASTA’s just flaunting their capabilities now. In addition to having a new ending theme/sequence each week, they’ve gone and tweaked the opening with some extra sound effects. When a studio has time to do all that, it sure gives me the impression they have this project in the bag. The story is well on track too, with Nymph’s whole collar situation nearing its climax.
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「レーダーマン」 (Reedaa Man)
“Radar Man”
“A professional manga artist and a pervert!?” Why Hajime acted so surprised about that I don’t know, because those sure seem to go hand-in-hand a lot lately. I got a good chuckle from that, but this episode really shines with Kobayashi Yuu and Koshimizu Ami making guest appearances. Knowing Yuu’s role as Mariya in Maria Holic, the craziness she can exude is well-suited for director Shinbou Akiyuki’s works, much like it is here.
